Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $40.8750.

BIP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $44.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $40.00 target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, National Bankshares set a $35.00 price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 31,975,602 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,051,678,000 after acquiring an additional 2,933,287 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 3.4% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 28,289,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $930,446,000 after purchasing an additional 926,167 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 9.1% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 7,969,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $262,303,000 after purchasing an additional 667,730 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 6.2% during the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 7,367,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $241,967,000 after purchasing an additional 431,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 2.2% in the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 6,756,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $222,701,000 after purchasing an additional 143,380 shares in the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Up 1.3%

BIP stock opened at $36.05 on Wednesday. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1-year low of $25.72 and a 1-year high of $36.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The business’s 50 day moving average is $34.56 and its 200-day moving average is $32.89. The firm has a market cap of $16.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.81 and a beta of 1.09.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.42). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 2.74% and a net margin of 3.70%.The company had revenue of $5.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 256.72%.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. owns and operates utilities, transport, midstream, and data businesses in North and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company's Utilities segment operates approximately 2,900 km of electricity transmission lines; 4,200 km of natural gas pipelines; 8.1 million electricity and natural gas connections; and 0.6 million long-term contracted sub-metering services.